EMAP and Other Tools for Measuring Biodiversity, Habitat
               Conditions, and Environmental Trends

               Eric  M.  Preston  and Christine A. Ribic
               U.S.  Environmental Protection  Agency
            Environmental Research Laboratory-Corvallis
                         Corvallis,  Oregon

Abstract.--  Several  research efforts that will contribute  to
assessment and monitoring  of neotropical migratory birds are
described, including:  1) the use of neotropical  migrants  in
the  Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program  (EMAP)  as
potential indicators of  general environmental condition and
biodiversity;  2) EPA's Habitat/Biodiversity Research
Initiative to  assess the comparative risks to biodiversity,
including neotropical  migrant birds; and 3) other EPA
research to  develop  tools  for assessing status and trends  of
neotropical  migratory  birds at various spatial scales.

                           INTRODUCTION

      In September,  1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency  (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) released a report
entitled: .Reducing Risk; Setting Priorities and Strategies
for  Environmental Protection (U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency 1990).  In this  report, the SAB made several
recommendations about  existing and emerging ecological
problem areas  and the  Agency's effectiveness  in resolving
these problems.  One broad recommendation was that EPA attach
as much importance to  reducing ecological risks as to
reducing human health  risk.  Citing both ecological and human
welfare concerns, the  SAB also strongly encouraged EPA to
address the  loss of  terrestrial and aquatic habitats.  In
short, the SAB ranked  habitat degradation and loss, species
extinction,  and loss of biodiversity among the highest
environmental  risks  facing EPA and other governmental
agencies today.
     Historically, EPA has assumed a secondary role in
habitat protection compared to several other  federal
agencies.  Now, habitat protection is a more common factor in
EPA  actions.   Current  directions at EPA include an increased
emphasis on  risk-based assessment of environmental problems
and  nationwide monitoring of status and trends in ecosystem
extent and condition.  These activities illustrate EPA's
movement towards a more comprehensive approach to
environmental  risk management.  In support,  EPA's Office of
Research and Development is developing the methods and
technical information  needed to address ecological risks to
habitat and biodiversity.
     This paper will describe several research efforts that
will potentially contribute to assessment and monitoring of
neotropical migratory  birds.  These include:   1)  the use  of
neotropical  migrants  in the Environmental Monitoring and

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 Assessment  Program's  (EMAP)  as  indicators of general
 environmental  condition  and  biodiversity;  2) EPA's
 Habitat/Biodiversity  Research Initiative to assess the
 comparative risks  to  biodiversity, including neotropical
 migrant  birds;  and 3)  Other EPA research that will be
 developing  tools for  assessing  status and trends of
 neotropical migratory birds  at  various spatial scales.


                          NATIONAL

                EMAP Design as a Tool for Monitoring
               Neotropical Migrants and Biodiversity

     EMAP is a  nationally integrated ecological research,
 monitoring,  and assessment program (Messer et al. 19915.  Its
 objectives  call for monitoring  the condition of the nation's
 ecological  resources  and providing unbiased estimates of
 status,  extent, change,  and  trend with known confidence.
 Building on the experience of previous surveys, the EMAP
 sampling design incorporates a  randomized systematic
 triangular  grid (fig.  1) to  ensure random selection and
 appropriate spatial distribution of samples {Overton et al.
 1990, White et  al.  1992).  The  base density results in
 approximately 12,600  grid points in the conterminous United
 States,  The grid  arrangement makes it easy to either
 increase or decrease  the grid density.  The triangular grid
 system establishes  a  hierarchical relationship among grid
 densities,  so those grid points from lower density grids are
 subsets  of  higher  density grids.  Specific multiple factors
 (e.g., 3-,4-, and  7-fold) are available to increase or
 decrease the base  grid density  to accommodate the sampling
 requirements for ecological  resources of differing spatial
 density.
     Several features of the EMAP grid make it appropriate
 for planning and conducting regional and national level
 biological  surveys.   The design structure provides for good
 spatial  distribution  of  sampling sites and for repeated
 sampling in  time while maintaining the spatial distribution.
 The spacing  and timing of sampling may be adapted to the
 characteristics of  the resource.  The probability basis of
 the EMAP design provides quantitative inferences with known
 confidence.
     EMAP has organized  sampling efforts around major
 resource groups (e.g., surface waters,  wetlands,  forests)
 that provide one focus for surveying of biodiversity,  as
 exemplified  in pilot  studies already underway on fish, bird,
 and vegetation  diversity. The resource group focus can be
 supplemented by surveys  conducted by taxonomic group (i.e.,
neotropical  migrants)  to capture wide-ranging and habitat-
 transitional species.   Finally,  the EMAP design is based on a
global geometric model (White et al.,  1992)  and,  therefore,
provides a basis for an  international survey.

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        Biodiversity as an Indicator of Ecosystem Condition

      Two projects are underway within EMAP to evaluate
habitat and biodiversity metrics as indicators of ecosystem
condition.

EMAP  - Forests

      In the first, EMAP-Forests is sponsoring a project under
Thomas E. Martin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to develop
indices of biotic integrity (after Karr 1981) for forest
ecosystems.  Dr. Martin is attempting to identify suites of
bird  species that are clearly indicative of either
undisturbed  ("healthy") or disturbed ("unhealthy") forests.
Forests are classified as healthy or unhealthy based upon the
total number of species and their abundances in each group
for a given forest stand.  Thus, the approach is aimed at
identifying those tracts of forest that are suitable (i.e.,
healthy for forest-dwelling migratory birds as a group).
     The work in progress is investigating indicators of bird
populations and a parallel set of indicators based on
vegetative characteristics of the breeding habitat.  The
thrust of the work is to establish the relationships between
habitat characteristics and the health of the forest bird
communities on a site-by-site basis.  Preliminary results
indicate that vegetative indicators based on breeding habitat
show promise in reflecting the health of breeding bird
communities.  This means that the collection of vegetative
characteristics can be done in the EMAP framework in lieu of
collecting information directly on bird populations.

EMAP - Surface Waters

     The second project is being supported by EMAP - Surface
Waters and conducted by Dr. Raymond J.  O'Connor,  University
of Maine.  It is similar to the EMAP - Forests project in
that it is attempting to identify metrics of suites of bird
populations indicative of the condition of lake ecosystems.
Censuses of the birds of 20 selected lakes in New England
were conducted during the 1991 breeding season.   Habitat
measurements were also made at census locations.
     Individual bird species showed little evidence of
sensitivity to anthropogenic impacts.  However,  when species
were classified by guild membership,  the relative abundance
of several guilds proved sensitive to anthropogenic impacts.
Two indicators based on the bird data were developed and were
shown to detect anomalous lakes (O'Connor,  personal
communication).  One indicator predicted species  richness at
each lake on the basis of physical attributes of  the lake,
with deviations from predicted values reflecting  anomalous
conditions.  The other characterized lakes as a  multivariate
function of the bird guild composition,  with the  function
value altering with stressor intensity.

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                    Biodiversity as  an Endpoint
     This project,  also conducted by Dr. O'Connor, is
currently investigating the usefulness of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service  Breeding Bird  Survey  (BBS) protocol for
developing  indices  of biodiversity within the EMAP sampling
frame.  Specifically, the project is developing  ways to add
habitat measurements to the Breeding Bird Survey routes and
to analyze  the BBS  data in conjunction with these habitat
characteristics.  This project  is investigating local and
landscape habitat characteristics and is developing guild
classifications for the bird species.  In addition, the
project is  addressing some of the biases in the Breeding Bird
Survey, such as the road-bias of the routes, by investigating
alternatives, such  as checkplots, and comparing the results
to those from the BBS.

                  Habitat/Biodiversity Initiative

     Habitat alteration and destruction with consequent
biological  depletion  are among the greatest ecological
threats facing the  nation (U.S. EPA 1990).  Three factors are
thought to  contribute to the problem. First, habitat
modification may  often be the inadvertent result of
independent and poorly coordinated land use decisions that
result in habitat fragmentation. This isolates certain
species in  ever smaller patches of suitable habitat and
creates barriers  to movement between patches. Second, the
cumulative  effects  of local habitat modification.and
contamination reduce the quality of remaining habitat
patches. Third, these factors in combination alter
competitive relationships and predator/prey relationships
within habitats.  Invasive, introduced species then can
displace native indigenous species,  with consequent loss of
native biodiversity in the landscape.
     Along with other federal and state agencies,  EPA shares
a responsibility  for the conservation of natural resources
and protection of the environment.  Implicit in many of EPA's
legislative mandates, and found throughout its regulatory
authorities, is the notion of maintaining natural
biodiversity.  One  of the problems facing federal agencies is
that habitat stewardship is divided among many land
ownerships,  each  with a different perspective on risks and
values. As stated by the Council on Environmental Quality
(1991)  "Piecemeal management -- ignoring the interdependence
of parts of. any ecosystem that happen to be separated by
political boundaries or by lines of land ownership -- can
lead to environmental and biological decline." To stem
further loss of habitat and biodiversity,  it is necessary to
develop a federal partnership that recognizes the complexity
of multiple-ecosystems,  multiple-values and multiple-stresses
associated with landscape mosaics of interacting ecological
systems distributed among federal,  state,  and private
ownerships.

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      In response,  we  are proposing a multi-agency,
 collaborative project to develop the methods and data needed
 to  assess  risks  to biodiversity.  We propose to categorize
 and map the relative  species diversity and landscape type
 diversity  of each  of  about  12,000 sampling units  (hexagons)
 based on the EMAP  sampling  grid covering the conterminous
 United States (fig. 2).  The process  (fig. 3) will include
 (1) compilation  of The Nature Conservancy's detailed
 vertebrate species distribution and attribute data for each
 hexagon,  (2)  compilation of remotely sensed land
 characterization data ,  (35 determination of whether low-cost
 remote sensing data (Advanced Very High Resolution
 Radiometry,  AVHRR)  that describe landscape types will be an
 acceptable surrogate  for habitat at the national scale, and
 (4) analysis of  the species and land characterization data by
 different  ecological  weighting methods, spatial analyses,
 multivariate statistical pattern analyses, and protection
 optimization methods.  This information, along with stressor
 data  compiled from existing databases, will be evaluated and
 synthesized to quantify relative risks to biodiversity and
 landscape  types  by region and landscape type.  Overall
 patterns that lead to high  importance and vulnerability of
 natural  landscapes and biodiversity will be identified.
      In  completing an assessment of the risks to landscape
 and biodiversity,  methods of prioritizing the protection of
 both  wildlife and  landscape types are needed.  Any policy
 recommendations  must  initially consider a variety of options
 and the  amount of  habitat and diversity protected under each
 option must  be known.
      Prioritization recognizes the need to establish a
 sequence -of  target areas for application of management and
 regulatory resources.  Prioritization in this study will be
 done  in  two  ways.  First, individual species will be weighted
 by a  variety of  factors that represent their contribution to
 differing  values associated with biodiversity.  Such values
might  include importance in ecosystem function and
 sustainability,  genetic "uniqueness",  vulnerability to
habitat  fragmentation, and  conservation importance (rarity).
 Second,  individual landscape types,  as represented by number
and proportion of  the  spatial areas of particular remotely
 sensed classes, will be evaluated as a surrogate for
 landscape  structural diversity.
      Prioritization will be implemented by  ranking cells
according  to  the joint criteria of maximum coverage but
minimum redundancy in  species or landscape type occurrence.
We will perform sensitivity analyses to examine the
robustness of  methods  of weighting,  aggregation,  and ranking.
     Expected  benefits include (1)  establishment of baseline
conditions of  species  distributions and landscape types,  (2)
comparative  risk assessment of stressors that threaten
biodiversity,  and  (3)   testing of methods that hold promise
for significantly  reducing  costs of habitat monitoring,
evaluation, and management.   The project is designed to
complement the higher  resolution analyses of the Fish and

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Wildlife  Service's  GAP Analysis Program by explicitly
relating  the  distribution of anthropogenic stressors to
biodiversity  and  landscape types through the risk assessment
process.
     Although the program's objectives are national in scope,
several scientific  issues will be addressed initially and
resolved  in an integrated series of pilot projects in
different  landscape types. The criteria used in selecting
areas  for  the pilot projects will include availability and
completeness  of appropriate biological, landscape, and
stressor data bases? a variety of cover types representative
of those to be encountered in the national assessment; and
ability to support  ongoing research in EMAP and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife  Service's GAP Analysis Project.
     The pilot projects are being designed to address the
following  research  issues and questions:

     o     Is  the  AVHRR land classification (Loveland et al.
           1991) an  ecologically meaningful representation of
           landscape diversity?

     o     Can vertebrate diversity be meaningfully associated
           with landscape diversity?

     o     Will existing stressor data bases allow an adequate
           characterization of risks to biodiversity?

     The pilot projects will have somewhat different research
orientations  due  to differences in data availability,  scale,
and issues being  addressed.  One or more of the following
activities will occur as appropriate:

     o    Vertebrate species will be allocated to hexagons.
           In  some cases rare plants and some invertebrates
          will be allocated as well.

     o    AVHRR landscape representations will be compared to
          GAP Thematic Mapper vegetation maps.

     o     Landscape and species data will be analyzed for
           spatial pattern,  type of diversity represented, and
           interaction effects between the two kinds of data.

     o     Stressor  data will be prioritized,  analyzed for
          allocation to the hexagon spatial framework,  and
          developed into a data base as feasible.

                            REGIONAL

     EPA's Global Change Research Program has recently
awarded a competitive cooperative agreement to Dr. W.  Carter
Johnson, South Dakota State University, to evaluate the
potential consequences of global climate change and other

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environmental  factors on migratory waterfowl populations in
the glaciated  prairie region of North America. The
investigators  will be working in collaboration with related
research programs in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, and the U, S. Geological Survey. Global
circulation models project a warmer and drier climate for
this region, and initial model simulations indicate that this
could cause a  dramatic decline in habitat quality and
waterfowl production.  The research will investigate the
major factors  affecting waterfowl populations through
literature review, agency statistics, statistical analyses,
simulation model development, and remote sensing.
Simulations will enable assessment of the waterfowl resource
and its vulnerability to the singular effects of climate
change.  A remote sensing protocol will be developed for
early detection of the climate change signal in prairie
wetlands.

                           WATERSHED

     As a part of EPA's Midwest Agrichemical
Surface/Subsurface Transport and Effects Research Project
(MASTER), EPA  is evaluating how changes in the composition
and quality of habitat types and their spatial arrangement
affect environmental quality, ecological processes, and
species composition and abundance.  The Walnut Creek
watershed in Iowa, a watershed containing one of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Management Systems Evaluation Areas
(MSEA) was selected for study.
     The long-term goal of the terrestrial research is to
develop a land-use plan for the watershed that maximizes
ecological benefits to terrestrial flora and fauna^while
maintaining an acceptable level of agricultural production.
Among the major research objectives are: (1) development of a
landscape model for evaluating potential benefits to
terrestrial biota from alternative land uses, management
practices, and habitat manipulations without compromising
commodity yields, and (2)   evaluation of the impact of
agrichemicals, other agricultural practices, and habitat
factors on terrestrial biota.

                            SUMMARY

The EPA is currently developing tools that will enable
managers to evaluate changes to biodiversity at national,
regional, and watershed scales.   These tools are being
developed in cooperation with other federal agencies as well
as with universities and will provide a framework for risk
based assessment and management of habitat and biodiversity.

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                    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to acknowledge Ross  Kiester,  Denis White,
Thomas Loveland, Lawrence Master,  J. Michael  Scott, and
others who have contributed to EPA's Habitat/Biodiversity
Initiative.  We would also like to thank  the  cited
researchers who graciously allowed us  to  reference their
unpublished research in progress.

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Figure 1. --The EMAP randomized systematic triangular grid
     system.

Figure 2. --The EMAP grid as an organizing framework for
     biodiversity, landscape,  and stressor data.

Figure 3. --Analysis strategy for a synoptic national
     assessment of comparative risk to biological diversity
     and landscape types.

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      Grid Density Enhancement
27km
base density
3-fold
4-fold
7-fold
  Enhancement factors for increasing the base grid density.

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                          EMAP Hexagons
                                                Class 1
                                              B Class 2
                                              U Class 3
                                              D Class 4
TNC species occurrence data
AVHRR landscape types
Stressor data

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                                  Analysis Strategy
 Spec/es occurrence data
For each vertebrate species
(mammals, birds, reptiles,
amphibians, fish):
 • taxonomy
 * biological description
 * conservation status
 • economic attributes
 * spatial distribution
 • migration attributes
 • habitat characteristics
 • food habits
 * phenology
  Compute metrics;
    * species richness
    * functional diversity
    • genetic diversity
    • fragmentation
    • conservation
 Analyze spatial patterns:
   • maps by region
   • aggregate hexagons
   • contour maps
   Landscape type data
 For each AVHRR land type:
  • vegetation type
  • land cover type
  * greenness attributes
  * climate attributes
  * terrain attributes
  • Omernik ecoregion
     Compute metrics:
      • composition
      • dominance
      * contagion
      • fragmentation
  Analyze spatial patterns:
   • maps by region
   * aggregate hexagons
   • contour maps
      Stressor data
    Areal and point data:
     * water quality
     • toxics
     • ag chemicals
     • mining & forestry
     * development
    Evaluate and allocate
    to hexagons or larger
    units as appropriate
                                                                              Analyze spatial patterns
Analyze joint patterns:
 • classification
 » ordination
 * regression
Identify and prioritize
areas of concern


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                                                         ERL-COR-
                                TECHNICAL REPORT DATA
                         {fttatt rttd Imurucriont on the rtvent otfort eompttf
 1. REPORT NO.
   EPA/600/A-92/205
                           2.
                                                     a.
 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE
                                                     ft. REPORT DATE
   EMAP and Other  Tools for Measuring  Biodiversit|i/p,ERFORMiNO ORGANIZATION CODE
   Habitat ondiditons and Environmental  Trends
 7. AUTHORiS)

   Eric  Preston, Christine A.  Ribic
                                                     S. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NO.
 ». PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS

   EPA,  ERL-Corvallis,  OR
                                                     10. PROGRAM CLEMENT NO.
            11. CONTRACT/GRANT NO.
 12. SPONSORING AGENCY NAME AND ADDRESS
  US Environmental Protection Agency
  Environmental  Research Laboratory
  200 SW 35th Street
  Corvallis, OR  97333	
            13. TYPE OF REPORT AND PERIOD COVERED
                   Symposium  Paper
            14. SPONSORING AGENCY CODE
              EPV600/02
 is. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
   1992.     Proceedings:     National   Training  Workshop  on   Status  and
   Management of Neotropical Migratory Birds.
 16. ABSTRACT

   Several   research  efforts  that  will  contribute  to  assessment  and
   monitoring of neotropical migratory birds  are described,  including:  1)
   the  use  of  neotropical  migrants in  the Environmental  Monitoring and
   Assessment   Program   (EMAP)   as  potential   indicators   of   general
   environmental condition and biodiversity; 2) EPA's Habitat/Biodiversity
   Research Initiative  to assess  the comparative risks  to biodiversity  ,
   including neotropical  migrant birds;  and  3)  other  EPA  research  to
   develop  tools for assessing status and trends of neotropical migratory
   birds a& various spatial scales.
                            KEY WORDS AND DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
                DESCRIPTORS
b.lDENTIFIERS/OPEN ENDED TERMS  C. COSATI Field/Group
   biodiversity,  neotropical,  EMAP,
   migratory
i«. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT

   Release to Public
1*. SECURITY. CLASS (Ttui Xtportl
  Unclassified
                                                                 21. NO. Of PAGES
12
20 SECURITY CLASS
 Unclassified
                         2. PRICE
CPA r»rm 1220-1

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